The Camera in the Valley
by Laurie-Ylalen
Summary: One of Gordon's pranks has gone wrong, and feeling guilty as all hell he sets about making things right, even if it means going against the word of his father! Short one shot


_The following was from a prompt from the lovely Loopstagirl! "One of the brothers falls off of something they weren't supposed to be climbing". So here is my response, I hope people like it!_

If anyone has any ideas for further writing challenges please leave them in the comments/pm me :) I seem to work better with a prompt!

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The frown on young Gordon Tracy's face would have told anyone he had set his mind to doing something he wasn't supposed to. The ground in front of him dropped away to the bottom of a small valley a few feet below, and halfway down lay the camera case and weatherproof camera that had been dropped the day before. He winced as he remembered the antics of the previous day; he and his brothers messing about in the warmth of the summer whilst they were all home for the holidays, the prank he'd pulled on his artistic sibling as Virgil had the shot lined up just so, the shouts as the camera and case it was attached to went tumbling over the edge, nearly followed by his brother. Quick thinking and fast reactions had prevented any casualties that day, but the walk home had been rather subdued with brother annoyed at brother.

Jeff had ruled under no circumstances were any of the boys to go back and retrieve the camera. The heavy rain of recent days had made the ground around that area treacherous and slippery, and one wrong step could send a person falling to the bottom of the valley. Jeff had promised to go down there later in the week with some ropes and a friend to try and retrieve it, but for the next few days he was away on business so they would just have to wait. Virgil had gone with his father, walking out of the door without even looking at his younger brother, to go and visit a friend of his. They had been planning to do some more outdoor photography, but Virgil now had to make do with his art set and was not impressed.

After a sleepless night of feeling guilty as all hell, Gordon had gotten out of bed not long after the sun had come up and made up his mind. No one would expect him to be awake yet, and if he was quick, he could have fetched the camera and be back at the house before anyone would even notice. He would then have time to make any repairs it would need, so by the time Virgil came back home he could apologise and present his brother with the good as new camera. Then hopefully all would be forgiven and they could all go back to enjoying their holidays.

Grabbing a couple of cookies from the jar, Gordon headed out of the back door, closing it quietly behind him so as not to disturbed the rest of the household hopefully still sleeping. It didn't take him long to make his way across country to the small valley in the corner of nowhere where he and his brothers had been messing about the day before. Thankfully it wasn't raining yet, though the dark clouds on the horizon looked rather threatening. The ground beneath his feet was a little squishy, though the way down to the valley floor seemed to be sturdy enough.

He stepped towards the edge of the steep slope, eyes scanning the terrain for the easiest way down. It seemed easy enough, and with some slipping and sliding, Gordon soon reached the ledge where the camera had come to rest. A thick tree branch now lay between him and the case, and he started carefully edging across. Holding onto the branch, he found the way easy, and he was soon reaching out for the case. As his fingers brushed the strap however, a crow came screeching out of the tree, flying straight into his face claws scraping his skin. He yelped in pain, arms flying up to protect his eyes and flailing to get the crazy bird away from him. He didn't feel the ground crumbling beneath his feet, nor the world tilting at a crazy angle. Not at first anyway. He did suddenly realise that he was now in mid-air and heading downwards fast, and had just enough time to think _"Well this sucks"_ before the ground finally decided it was time they were reunited.

When Gordon woke up, there was a slightly blurry yet familiar figure leaning over him. Blinking, Gordon frowned as he finally recognised the worried face of his brother John.

"John?" He took the outstretched hand and sat up slowly, wincing at the soreness of his back where he had impacted with the thankfully muddy floor.

"You ok, Gords?" His brother had a worried frown on his face, giving him a searching look.

He nodded, wincing slightly at the stiffness in his neck. "Yeah I think so…What are you doing here?"

His brother gave him a knowing grin. "I know you too well Gords, you can't stand it when one of the others is angry at you for more than five minutes. It was only a matter of time before you came back down here to try and get the camera back."

"But I got up early and everything!"

John laughed, causing Gordon to go red. "You have no idea what time I get up do you, Gordy? I'm usually up for hours before you even see the light of day. Lucky for you, Scott was up late last night playing games with Alan, else you would have had him on your back too, and that doesn't even bare thinking about!"

That drew the grin John had been seeking in his younger brother, and he held out his hand once more to pull him to his feet. That worked for all of three seconds, before Gordon fell back to the floor with a yelp. John was kneeling at his side again in an instant, oblivious to the mud now coating his jeans.

"What is it, ankle problems?" John looked concerned, carefully moving Gordon's trouser legs out of the way to have a closer look. "Yes, looks like you sprained it. You're lucky you didn't do more damage." There was no sound of annoyance or anger in the elder brother's voice; he was simply stating facts in his usual mild manor. Gordon looked up at the small cliff face, and was quite shocked to see just how high up the branch was where he had fallen from. John followed his gaze.

"Well, we should try and get back. Lean on me, it shouldn't take too long."

Gordon sighed heavily, looking back up where the camera still lay, just out of his grasp. John looked at his younger brother for a while, and then stood up.

"Wait here, little bro, I'll be back in a second." Before Gordon could react, John had turned and grabbed a low hanging branch, swinging himself up onto a rock ledge. His wiry frame made short work of the cliff edge, and he was soon up near where Gordon had originally fallen.

"Don't slip!" Gordon couldn't help the slight quip escaping his mouth, though the worry for his brother was very real. From down here, the valley top looked a horribly long way up, and John was clinging precariously onto the edge. John appeared to have stopped, and seemed to be looking carefully at where he was standing. The soft ground had given way when Gordon had fell, leaving no easy pathway to the camera.

John frowned. He could easy reach the jutting out bit of tree that was between him and the camera, but there was no guarantee it would be stable, or that he would be able to get down from there again, and he definitely did not want to end up like his little brother. Climbing higher, he dug his feet deep into the damp soil, using the thick tree roots as footholds, and the rough rocks above as hand holds. Finally he was above the section of tree, and the hard part began.

The bark of the tree was soft and bits broke away in his hands as he gripped onto the branches. He was having flashbacks to when he and Scott were younger, and they used to spend all summer climbing the trees in the back woods at their old house. They had always come back covered in bruises and scrapes, clothes and skin covered in mud and leaves in their hair. He also remembered that last time, when their mother had come racing out of the house in response to Scott's screams, to find John flat out on his back on the floor, eyes glazed over with shock. She had picked him up and raced back to the house, calling the doctors immediately. Turned out he had a mild concussion and a fractured wrist, and had his left wrist in a cast for weeks.

Finally the camera strap was in his reach. Getting a firm grip on the branch next to him, he stretched out his arm.

Gordon heard the ominous cracking noises from where he sat on the floor. His heart started racing, surely not…

"John, watch out!" he screamed at the top of his voice. There was another loud snap, and Gordon saw a branch come tumbling down from the top, bringing with it a mini avalanche of mud and stones. Gordon heard a yell from his brother, before he had to cover his eyes from the muck.

"John!"

"You alright Gords? What's up?" His brother's voice, sounding slightly strange, floated down from above. Wiping the mud from his eyes, Gordon looked up in amazement. Peering down from a ledge, camera in hand, was his blond haired brother.

Gordan flopped backwards onto the ground, one hand to his chest. "John! You nearly killed me there! I thought you fell off."

His brother's laughter reached his ears. "I'm on my way down now, fish boy, you just keep breathing."

It took him a little longer to get safely back to the floor where his red headed brother now sat, watching his progress. He did raise a laugh when he slid the last 10 feet or so, landing in a heap at the bottom. With a wry smile, John brushed himself down and helped Gordon stagger to a standing position, leaning most of his weight onto his older brother's shoulders.

The two Tracy's made their slow but steady way along the valley base. It wasn't long or particularly deep further down, and soon they managed to scramble their way out. It took them a while, and caused Gordon a lot of pain. They took a long break before setting off once more. They finally reached the top of the slope where the whole morning fiasco had begun, finding John's bike where he had left it. With Gordon perched on the back, John peddled them home in record time.

Bringing them around the back of the house, John dropped his bike off and helped his brother into the house. Propping him up in the kitchen, he was just heading to fetch the first aid kit when Grandma came into the room. Taking one look at the state of her two grandsons, she let out a little sigh and pointed John to a seat next to his brother. Bringing the first aid kit through, she set about patching them both up. Quickly and efficiently, all the mud was wiped off, cuts were cleaned up, and ice was applied to Gordon's ankle. Leaving them to a mug of tea each, she cooked up some breakfast and tidied away all of the medicine. By the time Scott and Alan turned up, John and Gordon were finishing off their breakfast, chatting away as if nothing had happened.

Their father and Virgil came home three days later. Gordon's ankle was recovered enough for it not to be noticeable, and he presented his brother with the cleaned up and fixed camera with many apologies. John came up with an elaborate story as to how they got the camera back without climbing down to it, and due to Jeff's tiredness from the journey, he simply took his son's word and went to bed. Of course, the boys stuck to their story, especially around Scott. When Scott asked too closely one warmer day, Gordon merely grinned, before shoving his brother in the pool.

Life was back to normal.


End file.
